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Posted by Tamil and Vedas on January 11, 2014
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Posted by Tamil and Vedas on January 1, 2014
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Posted by Tamil and Vedas on January 1, 2014
https://tamilandvedas.com/2014/01/01/good-thoughts-calendar-2014-january/
Posted by Tamil and Vedas on January 1, 2014
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By London Swaminathan; Post No. 749 dated 17th December 2013.
Tiru Valluvar is the most popular Tamil poet and the author of Tirukkural which is called Tamil Veda. Valluvar lived at least 1500 years ago. Albert Einstein was the greatest physicist of our time. He was the author of the Theory of Relativity.Einstein was born in 1879 in Germany and died in 1955in Princeton, USA. Both were great thinkers in their own fields. Let me compare a few quotations of Einstein with the Tamil poet Valluvar.
ZEAL
“One should not pursue goals that are easily achieved. One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts.” —Albert Einstein
All thought should be the thought of rising high though it fails; it is the nature of success. Your aspirations keep you on a higher plane (Tirukkural 596)
Though wounded with arrows, the elephant stands firm in his greatness; he who has spirit never loses heart when he fails (Tirukkural 597)
Let a man lift himself by himself; let him not degrade himself; for the self alone is the friend of the self and self alone is the enemy of the self. (Bhagavad Gita 6-5)
Purananuru verse 214 of Kopperum Chozan also advises everyone to Aim High. A person who wanted to hunt an elephant will come with an elephant after a successful hunt. A person who wants to hunt quails may come even without a single bird. So aim high in life.
LOVE
Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. How on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That is relativity.
—Albert Einstein
For those who are counting days for the final return, of the beloved so long away, A single day will drag on like seven (Tirukkural 1269)

WISDOM
The important thing is not to stop questioning —Albert Einstein
To discern the truth from whatever source it emanates Is the true quality of wisdom (Tirukkural 423)
VEGETARIANISM
Although I have been prevented by outward circumstances from observing a strictly vegetarian diet, I have long been an adherent to the cause in principle. Besides agreeing with the aims of vegetarianism for aesthetic and moral reasons, it is my view that a vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind—Albert Einstein
It is inconsistent with the way of living compassion
To fatten oneself on the flesh of a fellow creature ( Tirukkural 251)
Those who have a vision that is not blurred by mental confusion,
Will not eat the meat of dead carcasses (Tirukkural 258)
EXPLAINING
If you can’t explain simply, you don’t understand it well enough—Albert Einstein
Those, who cannot express their thought acquired after deep study,
Are like a bunch of flowers without fragrance (Tirukkural 650)
GENIUS
Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid—Albert Einstein
One should not slacken under a feeling that a job is too difficult to be done; effort will give the greatness necessary to do it (Tirukkural 611)
T hose who labour on untiringly and without fault will overcome even fate (Tirukkural 620)

IDLENESS
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything—Albert Einstein
A person steeped in indolence without noble deeds will see his home ruined by growing vices (Tirukkural 604)
These four are pleasure boats of loss and ruin: Procrastination, Forgetfulness, Idleness and Dozing (Tirukkural 605)
*******
Where Parimelazakar went wrong!!
“The Lord Indra himself is effective witness to the prowess of a sage
Who has really conquered the five senses” (Tirukkural 25)
(Indra, the king of the Devas himself, will bear testimony to the will power of those who curbed the desires of the five senses).
Parimel azakar interpreted it wrongly. He took it as an insult to Indra. But Manakkudavar, another old commentator, has correctly interpreted it. Indra has trepidations of the heart, whenever a sage effectively controls all his senses and reaches the height of the penance, lest he should ultimately endanger his own position—and so naturally, he is witness to the ascetic’s prowess. Dr S M Diaz has rightly pointed out it.
This is confirmed by other references in Hindu and Buddhist scriptures:
“And Indra through Brahmacharya brought the heavenly lustres to Devas” (AV 11/5/19)
“It was by the watchfulness that Indra became the chief of the Gods” ( Buddha in Dhammapada 2-10)
“Who was Tiruvalluvar?” was written and posted in this blog sometime ago. I quote only GU Pope’s verse below:
‘’Sage Valluvar, priest of the lowly clan,
No tongue repeats, no speech reveals thy name;
Yet, all things changing, dieth not thy fame
For thou art bard of universal man;
And still thy ‘book’ above the waters wan’
Virtue, true wealth, and joy, and being’s aim,
In sweetest mystic couplets doth proclaim
Where winds sea-wafted palmy forests fan.
Haply undreamed of ‘visions’ glad thine eyes
In reals beyond thy fabled ‘seven fold birth’,
And clouds of darkness from thy spirit roll;
While lands far off have heard with strange surprise
Faint echoes of thy song. Though all the earth
Men hail thee brother, seer of spotless soul’’
—Written by Dr G.U. Pope
From the book The Sacred Kural by H.A.Popley, year 1931
Also read my earlier post: Who was Tiruvalluvar? In this blog.
Contact swami_48@yahoo.com
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Posted by Tamil and Vedas on December 17, 2013
https://tamilandvedas.com/2013/12/17/albert-einstein-and-thiruvalluvar/
Compiled by Santanam Swaminathan; Post No 742 dated 11th December 2013.
11th December is Bharati’s Birth Day
Bharathiyar was born on 11 December 1882; Died on 11th September 1921.
Quotes about Bharati:
“Bharati kindled the souls of men by million to a more passionate love of freedom and a richer dedication to the service of the country”—Poet Sarojini Naidu
“Bharati is not only the poet of Tamil Nadu, he belongs also to the whole of India. His verses should be published in all the languages”—Jawaharlal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India.
Bharati’s vastitudes can be known only when the poems of the great one, are translated in to the languages of the world”- Poet Bharatidasan
“In the course of his evolution from Shellydasan as he used to describe himself earlier, to Saktidasan ( Devotee of Goddess Shakti), Bharati reflected the great change which transformed India, a British dependency into a self reliant power”- Prof. K.Swminathan
(Bharati was influenced by English poets Shelly and Byron. Later he changed his name from Shelly Dasan to Shaktidasan).
Bharati was the greatest of the modern Tamil poets. No one has surpassed him in the past 125 years. He was a great patriot, devoted Hindu and ardent supporter of Tamil Language. His poems touch all the subjects from Astronomy to Zoology. His poem on Halley’s Comet is beautiful. He has sung about all the domestic animals. He composed poems on world leaders like Mazini and Indian freedom fighters such as Gandhi, B.G.Tilak and Dadabai Nauroji. All Tamil poets and greatest Sanskrit poet Kalidasa– are all in his poems. His poems are vast. No one can translate his poems. The beauty of his pomes is lost in translation. But for Non Tamils it will give some idea about his poems. He was rightly called Amara Kavi ( Immortal Poet). He knew Tamil, English, French, Hindi and Sanskrit.
Here are some samples from ‘Bharati Patalkal’ published by Tamil University, Thanjavur, Edited by Sekkizar Adippodi Dr T N Ramachandran. It contains English translations of Bharati poems by several eminent writers including Dr TNR.
Great Upanishads
Himachal is our mountain
The world hath not its fellow;
Ganga is our fountain
Pellucid, sweet and mellow.
Our Upanishads are twelve
Unknown to any other clime
Deep into our minds they delve,
And soar aloft sublime
Praise we Bharat, golden fair,
Our own land beyond compare! (Tanslated by TNR)
(In Tamil Mannum Imaya Malai engal Maliye——–)
On Liberty
1.Come, that we may sing
For Freedom’s bliss is ours;
Come, that we may dance
For Liberty is ours!
2.A Brahmin no more will be hailed
As “Lord, Lord” again
No more a white man in our land
As “Master” shall remain;
No more to those who receive
Of such their alms, we bow,
Or bend to those who us deceive
Never from Now!
(In Tamil aaduvome Pallup Paaduvome; Paarppaanai ayar endra kaalamum poche…………)
Our Mother
1.When was our mother born—
Who can hazard a guess?
Not even the learned that discern
What happened in the days of yore.
2.Though our Mother’s age
No one can compute,
Alone on earth does she shine
For ever in virgin bloom.
3.Three hundred million*
Her faces are;
But all, all of them
Throb with one vibrant life.
4. Eighteen are the languages
That she speaks
But animating them all
Is only one thought.
(First 4 stanzas of 12 stanzas translated by S Ramakrishnan ( SRK)
*When Bharati composed this poem the population of India was 300 million.
(In Tamil Thondru Nikaznthathu anaiththum Arinthitum…….)
On Halley’s Comet
1.Like a palm tree set on a millet plant,
With a growing tail on a little star,
You blaze forth in kinship with eastern moon
Oh, lustrous comet! I bid you welcome
2.You range over countless crores of Yojanas
They say your endless tail wrought of gas
The softness of which is indeed peerless
3. They say that yourtail touches the earth too
An you fare forth with no harm to the poor;
The wise talk of your myriad marvels.
( I have given only 3 stanzas from 7 stanzas of translation by Dr T N Ramachandran)

In Praise of Saraswati
She dwells in the white lotus
And the sound the Vina makes;
In the poet’s heart whose song
Our inmost being takes;
She is the light at the end
Of the tunnels the Vedas explore;
And of the frank and compassionate words
Of sages, the essence and core.
(First stanza of the 10 Stanza poem translated by Prof.P S Sundaram)
(In Tamil Vellai Thaamarai Puuvinil IruppaL……….)
Advice to Children
Fear not at all my little child
When you meet with evil doers;
Smite them and kick them, oh my child!
And lo, at their face you shall spit.
When thronging sorrows assail us
We should drop not, my little child;
God is there full of compassion
To quell all troubles oh my child!
(Tanslation by Dr TNR; 14 stanza poem)
( In Tamil Paathakam Seyvoraik Kandaal Bayam Kollalaakaathu paappaa………Odi Vilaiyaatu Paappaa)
His poems Panchali Sabhadam (Panchali’s Vow from Maha Bharata), Kannan songs (about Lord Krishna) and Koel Paatu ( Blackbird’s Song) are all great additions to Tamil literature. His songs have been used in lot of Tamil feature films. His name is a house hold name in Tamil Nadu. He simplified the language and style and gave a new direction to Tamil. His name will live as long as the Tamil language exists. In Sanskrit they used to say ‘his name will be on earth as long as the sun and moon shines’. Let Bharati’s name shine as long as the sun and moon shine.)
My earlier articles on Bharati:
1.சொல்லில் உயர்வு தமிழ்ச் சொல்லே!
2.பாரதியின் பேராசை
3.பாரதியுடன் 60 வினாடி பேட்டி
4.பயமே இல்லாத பாரதி
5.பாரதி பாட்டில் பகவத் கீதை
6.பாரதி வாழ்க
7.பாரதி நினைவுகள்
8.பாரதி பாட்டில் பழமொழிகள்
(9) பேய்கள் பற்றி பாரதி & விவேகாநந்தர்
(10) சிட்டுக் குருவியிடம் பாரதி கற்ற பாடம்
(11). வாழ்க்கையில் வெற்றிபெற பாரதி அட்வைஸ்
Contact swami_48@yahoo.com
Posted by Tamil and Vedas on December 11, 2013
https://tamilandvedas.com/2013/12/11/quotes-from-the-greatest-tamil-poet-bharati/
Post No 717 dated 21 November 2013
Buddha was great but he said nothing new. Whatever he said was already known to the Hindus. But his emphasis was on certain aspects of existing Hindu principles. Some people were more into rituals in his days. Others were more into yoga and meditation. Buddha insisted only eight important things. He never contradicted the existing things but complemented to them. If one reads Dhammapada, one will feel reading a Hindu scripture. I compare below some of the Buddha’s teachings with that of Tirukkural in Tamil whose author Tiruvalluvar lived at least 1000 years after the Buddha. Gautama Buddha lived in the sixth century before Christ and Valluvar lived in the fifth century after Christ.
Tiruvalluvar’s Tirukkural was called Tamil Veda by his contemporaries. One of the poets who praised him for his contribution said, “Sanskrit is famous because of the Vedas and Tamil is famous because of Tirukkural”.
Buddhist Holy book is called Dhamma (Dharma)pada. That is the first word of Bhagavad Gita (Dharma kshetre) and first section of Tirukkural (Araththupaal)!
Dharma cannot be translated into English with one simple word!
Here are the words of Buddha:
“What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow: our life is the creation of our mind.
If a man speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows him as the wheel of the cart follows the beast that draws the cart.
If a man speaks or acts with a pure mind, joy follows him as his own shadow”.
-Dhammapada 1-1/2
It is interesting to compare it with Lord Krishna’s words in Gita (6-5)
“Let a man lift himself by himself; let him not degrade himself; for the Self alone is the friend of the self and the Self alone is the enemy of the self.
In the chapter on Hatred, Valluvar said,
“The evil of hatred is the grief of griefs. If it is rooted out, you can enjoy the joy of joys (854)
Nip in the bud the feeling of hostility and you prosper well. For one is fast ruined by fomenting hatred (858)
Out of hatred arise all evils; the smile of good will usher in peace and prosperity (860)
Buddha said,
For hate is not conquered by hate; hate is conquered by love. This is a law eternal (1-5)
Valluvar said,
The best punishment for those who do evil to you, is to shame them by returning good for evil (Kural 314).
Jesus said,
Whoever strikes thee on the right cheek,
Turn to him the other also. (Matt 5,39)
Great men think alike!
Read other articles in Great men think alike series; also One Minute Interview with the Buddha, Lord Krishna (in English), Tiruvalluvar (in Tamil).
Contact swami_48@yahoo.com
Posted by Tamil and Vedas on November 21, 2013
https://tamilandvedas.com/2013/11/21/buddha-and-tamil-saint-on-good-thoughts/
Sri Narayana Guru on Conversions:
Sri Narayana Guru was a philosopher and social reformer born in a backward community in Kerala. He was a Sanyasin without the robes of one. He insisted that every individual must follow strictly the tenets of his own religion, perceiving simultaneously, the oneness underlying all religions. Once a Christian approached him with a request for a Mantra (religious incantation).
“What is your religion?”, inquired Swamiji.
‘Christianity’
“Have you studied the Holy Bible and given a fair trial to its teachings”?
‘No……. Not yet’
“Be a good Christian first”, was the advice. This incident reminds one of a similar conversation between a Christian aspirant and the late revered Shankaracharya of Sringeri Mutt.
Narayana Guru used to say, “Whatever be the religion, it is enough if an individual is good”.
When some speakers at a conference in Varkala after the historic temple entry Satyagraha at Vaikom, insisted conversion was the only solution to the caste problem, Sri Narayana Guru said, “ For spiritual elevation it is not necessary to abandon…… Swadharma. The idea of conversion has its origin in jealousy. Once it is realised that jealousy is an outcome of ego or arrogance, enthusiasm for conversion will die down. Santana Dharma is supreme.”

Swami Vivekananda on Conversions
Refer to ‘The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda’, Advaita Ashram, Kolkata, 1979, Volume V, pp. 233-35, for the text of Swami’s interview to the editor of Prabuddha Bharat, in which Swami Vivekananda stated that arrangements must be made to receive back into Hinduism those who had been converted to Christianity and Islam.
Hundred years ago, Swami Vivekananda had warned against conversions. He said, “Every man going out of the Hindu pale is not only a man less, but an enemy the more.”
In his works, Swami Vivekananda gave the most heart-rending accounts of the calumnies that Christian missionaries spread about Hinduism, about India, about him personally.
Swami Vivekananda wrote, “The child is taken to school and the first thing he learns is that his father is a fool, the second thing that his grandfather is a lunatic, the third thing that all his teachers are hypocrites, the fourth that all the sacred books are lies. By the time he is sixteen, he is a mass of negation, lifeless and boneless “.
Swami Vivekananda told the Christians in America about the false propaganda by the Christian missionaries, “If all India stands up and takes all the mud that is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean and throws it up against the Western countries, it will not be doing an infinitesimal part of that which you are doing to us …”
On his return from America, Swami Vivekananda told his audience in Madras, “It is not true that I am against any religion. It is equally untrue that I am hostile to the Christian missionaries in India. But I protest against certain of their methods of raising money in America. What is meant by those pictures in the school-books for children where the Hindu mother is painted as throwing her children to the crocodiles in the Ganga?
I disbelieve in the conversion of one person by another. My effort should never to be to undermine another’s faith. This implies belief in the truth of all religions and, therefore, respect for them. It implies true humility. (Young India: April 23, 1931)
Conversion-Impediment to Peace: It is impossible for me to reconcile myself to the idea of conversion after the style that goes on in India and elsewhere today. It is an error which is perhaps the greatest impediment to the world’s progress toward peace. Why should a Christian want to convert a Hindu to Christianity? Why should he not be satisfied if the Hindu is a good or godly man? (Harijan: January 30, 1937)
No Such Thing as Conversion: I believe that there is no such thing as conversion from one faith to another in the accepted sense of the word. It is a highly personal matter for the individual and his God. I may not have any design upon my neighbour as to his faith which I must honour even as I honour my own. Having reverently studied the scriptures of the world I could no more think of asking a Christian or a Musalman, or a Parsi or a Jew to change his faith than I would think of changing my own. (Harijan: September 9, 1935)
No Conversion Designs Upon Me: I am not interested in weaning you from Christianity and making you Hindu, and I do not relish your designs upon me, if you had any, to convert me to Christianity. I would also dispute your claim that Christianity is the only true religion. (Harijan: June 3, 1937)
I hold that proselytisation under the cloak of humanitarian work is unhealthy to say the least. It is most resented by people here. Religion after all is a deeply personal thing. It touches the heart.
Why should I change my religion because the doctor who professes Christianity as his religion has cured me of some disease, or why should the doctor expect me to change whilst I am under his influence? (Young India: April 23, 1931).
(Compiled by Swaminathan from websites and book ‘The Perspective’ by DB Thengadi.
Read London Swaminathan’s ‘One Minute Interview’ Series and ‘Great Men Think Alike’ Series+ 600 articles)
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Posted by Tamil and Vedas on October 10, 2013
https://tamilandvedas.com/2013/10/10/great-men-think-alike-on-conversions/

Picture of Buddha at Spring Temple, China (from Wikipedia)
Golden sayings about workers/employees by great religious leaders are given below:
Lord Buddha says in Sigalovada suttanta:
“ In five ways does an Aryan master helps his servants and employees
1.By assigning them work according to their strength
2.By supplying them with food and wages
3.By tending them in sickness
4.By sharing with them unusual delicacies
5.By granting leave periodically.
In these ways ministered to by their master, servants and employees love their master in five ways—
1.They rise before him
2.They lie down to rest after him
3.They are content with what is given to them
4.They do their work well
5.And they carry about his praise and good fame”.
Parsees (Religion: Zoroastrianism)
Zoroastrian Prayer gives better guarantee than Marxism against apprehension of injustice or inequality :
“The thought well thought
The word well spoken
The deed well done”
(Humata, Hukhata, Hvershta)
And directive to the followers of the way of the Wise Lord to be pure in thoughts and deeds, charitable to those in need, kind to all useful animals, and industrious in tilling the soil, growing trees, raising cattle or doing other profitable and useful labour
(Humata ,Hukhata, Hvershta= Hindus say Mano, Vak, Kaya)
Islam
Mohamed says, “ Your servants are your brothers. God has placed them under your charge; whosoever has then a brother under his charge, let him feed him what he eats himself, and let him clothe him out of with what he clothes himself, and compel them not to do a work which will overpower them.”
Marxism
Thus, though attentive to the material needs of the peoples, all religions and their leaders differ from Marxism in that:
1).None of them subscribes to naked materialism
2).None of them treats man as a mere economic being; and
3).None of them relies upon external coercion as an instrument for reformation of men and matters.
Source: The Perspective by D.B. Thengadi, Trade Unionist.
Contact: swami_48@yahoo.com
Posted by Tamil and Vedas on October 6, 2013
https://tamilandvedas.com/2013/10/06/buddha-zoroaster-and-mohamed-on-workers/
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